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Jaylen Brown scored 25 points as the Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Hornets 124-109 on Friday night, but he saved his biggest shot for after the game.
The star guard had a falling out with former teammate Grant Williams, who collided with Jayson Tatum from the side as Tatum dribbled near halfcourt late in the fourth quarter. Tatum spilled on the floor. Then Brown came in and took apart Williams and benched the Hornets.
Tatum appeared upset as he got to his feet, but simply walked to the foul line while officials reviewed the play. Williams was sent off for flagrant foul 2 and could face a league ban.
When asked if he thought Williams’ mistake was unintentional, Brown did not hesitate to answer.
“Like, what are we talking about? Are you seeing the same play I was watching?” Brown told reporters in Charlotte. “He hit it like it was a football game. Like, Ray Lewis comes through the middle or something. It is what it is. Grant knows better than that.”
Brown said there was no place in the NBA for a mistake like that to be made, and he questioned why Williams, who was his teammate in Boston from 2019-2023, would make the mistake.
“I thought JT and Grant were friends… I don’t think so,” Brown said.
Williams admitted it was a huge mistake but said it was not intentional.
“I’m not trying to hurt anyone. We all know this is one of my good friends in the league,” Williams told NBC Sports Boston.
“JB kind of escalated it, but I understand he’s trying to protect his teammate. But that’s (Tatum) my dog. No matter what I’m protecting. … There’s no malice or any problem with that.”
Tatum, who scored a game-high 32 points, declined to speak to the media afterward.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzola declined to place blame directly on Williams.
“I’m glad (Tatum) is OK,” he said. “What I liked most was that he jumped right in and didn’t lie down. It didn’t bother him. He got up right away, shot the free throw and did his job.”
The match did not calm down after the error that Tatum also suffered. Moments later, LaMelo Ball fouled the Celtics star on a three-point attempt and was flagged for a flagrant foul. In the final seconds, Hornets forward Miles Bridges was ejected.
“Teams like to send messages and try to set the tone and do all kinds of different things to try to get us out of character or mess with our minds or make us feel like we’ve solved the issue or whatever the issue is,” Brown said. “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re not — that’s it. We’re just not going.”
Teams won’t have to wait long to see each other. They play again Saturday night, this time in Boston.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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